by Rodger Bohn / @rodgerbohn
D-day will come for the top guard in the class of 2012 tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., ending months of speculation as to where his eventual college destination would be.
It’s been a long road for Rodney Purvis. Originally starting off as a member of the class of 2013, he received national attention after Hoopmixtape put out this ridiculous mix of him looking like a man-child as an 8th grader. Then came a relatively unprecedented move; Upper Room Christian Academy, formerly an elementary and middle school, started allowing to students to attend high school largely in part to keep Mr Purvis around for another four years. If you have enough juice to make a school create a high school, you must be legit.
A reclassification to the class of 2012 brought Rodney back to playing with players from his original class, putting an end to all of the hating that came from fans who claimed that he was up to 3 years older than members in the class of 2013 (which was completely unfounded, considering he was born 2/14/94). A commitment and de-commitment from Louisville followed because of Tim Fuller’s departure to Missouri, and the door was wide open for new schools to get in the picture. Now there are just five left on the board.
“I’m down to Ohio State, Memphis, North Carolina Central, UCONN, and NC State,” Purvis told SLAM late Wednesday night.
Many are speculating that the 6-4 combo guard who owns a game reminiscent of DWade will choose between UCONN and NC State. Don’t count out NC Central as a dark horse though, as there have been rumors running rampant throughout the triangle that Purvis is really considering Central in efforts to put the program back on the map. While everyone wants to throw their guess and logic out there, nobody will know until 2:30 tomorrow…but Purvis did let us know what was most important in his decision.
“Getting a great education is most important,” explained the 17-year-old less than 48 hours away from one of the biggest days of his life. “I want to go somewhere where I can come in and be myself.”
Wherever the final destination may be for Purvis, the school will be getting a guard who will likely start from day one and make a considerable impact. Countless hours have been spent over the last year to improve upon his J and point guard skills, with the culmination coming at the LBJ Skills Academy in Akron where he ran point exclusively for the entire event.
